U.S. may have committed war crimes in Iran

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Richard Hall | September 18, 2026     Hello there. America’s relationship with the world has changed dramatically in Donald Trump’s second term. Today’s edition of The Brief looks at the impact of those changes, from a shift in military aid toward Latin America, to Canada seeking new alliances farther afield.  We're also delighted to report the discovery of an entirely new species of cat, the first such find in more than 100 years.  IN TODAY’S BRIEF ‘Indiscriminate attacks’ Republican calls out Trump on immigration Canada moves closer to the E.U. Cancer in nonsmokers Trump’s westward pivot Iran war emissions New cat just dropped         READ THIS FIRST The U.S. may have committed war crimes in Iran, U.N. report says Fatemeh Bahrami—Anadolu/Getty Images The U.S. may have committed war crimes when its strikes allegedly hit an elementary school and a sports facility in Iran, according to a United Nations report publicly released on Thursday that the Trump Administration has said it does not consider credible. The U.N.’s Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran said it found “reasonable grounds to believe that the United States committed a war crime by launching indiscriminate attacks that killed or injured civilians or damaged civilian objects.” The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, triggering a war that has stretched into its seventh month. Among those attacks, the mission identified U.S. Tomahawk missile strikes that hit Tree of Tayyiba Elementary School in Minab, killing more than 150 people, including 120 children, and an alleged U.S. missile strike that dispersed tens of thousands of tungsten pellets over a sports complex and residential area in Lamerd, killing 22 civilians. (The U.S. denied carrying out any strike within the vicinity of Lamerd on Feb. 28.) Both civilian facilities were “clearly identifiable,” the report said. —Miranda Jeyaretnam         SPONSORED 2 minutes. Your URL. A customer profile worth using. Most founders can describe their product. They can't describe their customer. Not in a way that actually changes how they sell. HubSpot for Startups built a free tool to fix that. Paste in your URL, answer a few quick questions, and it generates a structured profile of your best-fit customer. Firmographics, buying triggers, the works. Takes 2 minutes. No spreadsheet required. Build Your Free ICP.         IN THE NEWS Trump-backed Republican says President’s immigration crackdown has gone ‘too far’ Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Florida Republican up for re-election in November, released an ad on Thursday in which she criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, just months after he endorsed her campaign. “Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Salazar said in the ad. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.” "You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism," she continued. "I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land. And only you can do that.” The video marked a stunning break from the President who backed Salazar’s re-election bid earlier this year. In February, Trump said in a Truth Social post that the Congresswoman was “doing a truly fantastic job representing the wonderful people of Florida’s 27th Congressional District!” —Chantelle Lee         HAPPENING NOW Canada and E.U. forge closer ties amid U.S. trade war   Evelyn Hockstein—Getty Images Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday welcomed the prospect of Canada becoming an “associate member” of the E.U., just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed the proposal as “laughable.” Addressing the European Parliament as a guest of honor in Strasbourg, France, Carney insisted “Europe and Canada are stronger together” and said “Canada and the European Union can anchor our ground to hold our values while forming a protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive.” Carney’s pivot toward Europe comes as he seeks to establish stronger international ties and curtail Canada’s reliance on the American market amid an all-out trade war. Canada’s retaliatory tariffs came into effect last week, matching the economic pressure imposed by the U.S. after negotiations collapsed last month. Trump has threatened economic punishments if the E.U. moves forward with the “associate” membership plan. "If they do that, if I think it's at all a hostile act, I will put very serious ​tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things," Trump said. —Tiago Ventura         HEALTH CHECK A genetic mutation may help explain lung cancer in nonsmokers Douglas Sacha—Getty Images Smoking is one of the biggest contributors to lung cancer, but anywhere from 10-20% of cases in the U.S. each year are diagnosed in people who never smoked. In a new study published in Science, researchers report that for some of those cases, an inherited genetic mutation might be involved. Scientists co-led by Dr. Jaclyn LoPiccolo, an attending physician and lung-cancer researcher at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, found that people with a mutation in the EGFR gene had a 25-fold higher risk of developing lung cancer compared to people without the mutation, regardless of whether they smoked. When the researchers looked just at nonsmokers, the risk was even higher: carriers of the mutation had a 60-fold higher risk compared to nonsmokers who didn't have the mutation. Since nonsmokers have a lower chance of developing lung cancer than smokers, this jump in risk reflects how strongly this genetic mutation might impact risk, LoPiccolo says. —Alice Park         SPONSORED Tired of news that feels like noise? Every day, 4.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news fix. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture — all in a brief 5-minute email. No spin. No slant. Just clarity. Join for free today!         IN FOCUS What Trump shifting tens of millions in military aid means for U.S. alliances Luis Acosta—AFP/Getty Images The Trump Administration announced this week that it plans to shift tens of millions in military aid from countries in Europe and the Middle East to nations in Latin America with right-leaning governments.  A State Department official confirms to TIME that the department notified Congress that $52 million in foreign military funding for Iraq, North Macedonia, Slovakia, and Tunisia will be diverted to Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru, and that the funds will be used to “combat narcoterrorism in our own backyard and help continue to secure the Panama Canal.”  “The proposed reprogramming in the Western Hemisphere will reduce opportunities for adversaries to establish or sustain strategic footholds in our hemisphere,” the State Department official says. The reallocation of military funding reflects a broader shift in the U.S.’s priorities when it comes to foreign policy. Since Trump’s return to office last year, his Administration has worked to buttress the U.S.'s presence in the Western Hemisphere in the name of curbing drug trafficking from Central and South America and squashing the influence of other nations, such as China, in the region.  The Trump Administration has also sought to recalibrate its foreign policy regarding the Middle East and Europe. A national security strategy laid out by the White House at the end of last year stated that the Administration intended to take a more hands-off approach to armed conflict in those regions and allow them to become more militarily self-reliant.  Experts warn that the shift in military funding—and the broader plans of realigning U.S. foreign policy it fits into—threatens to weaken the country’s alliances around the world over the long term. “You're eroding silently, quietly, bit by bit, this trust in the United States,” Jim Townsend, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy for eight years in the Obama Administration, tells TIME of the Administration diverting military funding from European and Middle Eastern countries. —Connor Greene         ONE NUMBER 0.5% Global fossil-fuel emissions are on track to drop by around 0.5% in 2026 as a result of resictions on oil supplies caused by the Iran war and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, according to an analysis by Carbon Brief, a nonprofit publication that focuses on energy and climate policy. SOURCE: CARBON BRIEF         A VIRAL MOMENT A brand new cat Researchers say they’ve identified a new species of wild cat previously unknown to science, for the first time more than a century. Leopardus tilcayo—or the tilcayo tiger cat—lives in the Bolivian Yungas region, according to the journal Current Biology.         SPONSORED Parallel, Turbopuffer, and Wordsmith run their entire GTM motion on Attio, with agents that chase every buying signal, build pipeline, and move deals forward, 24/7. Try Attio now.       Linked In this addictive word-association game, find the steps that will unite two seemingly unrelated words in just four moves. PLAY NOW       ALSO WORTH YOUR TIME ART Introducing TIME's 100 Most Influential People in Art POLITICS  How Trump Helped Put a Texas Senate Seat In Play       More Newsletters from Click to sign up. D.C. 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